German DE-OS No. 30 19 466 discloses a system for automatic feeding of crucibles to an oven of an analysis device and their removal therefrom. The device has an induction oven 14, 16 arranged above a conveyor 30. On the conveyor 30 are a plurality of crucibles 15, each containing a sample for analysis A gripper with movable claws or fingers 48, 50 is associated with each crucible 15. With these grippers, which are slidably arranged along a common rail 110 of the conveyor, slidable toward the axis of the oven, multiple crucibles 15 can be simultaneously gripped at their outer surfaces and moved in the direction of the oven axis. The respective crucible closest to the axis of the oven is placed under the oven onto a lifting piston 18, by means of which, after release of the gripper, the crucible can be introduced through an opening 22 (FIG. 1) into the oven above, specifically an induction oven as described.
After the analysis, the crucible is retracted from the oven and moved away. The grippers are pulled back along the rail into a position such that they grasp the arrayed crucibles individually, and, after movement of the rail in the direction of the oven, the crucibles advance one position, so that the next crucible is positioned under the oven. In order to open and close the grippers, a complicated mechanism, with a multiplicity of moving parts and springs, is necessary.
Analysis devices with a combustion apparatus for determining the content of one or more elements, such as C H O N (Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen), in fluid or solid samples are widely known, for example as described in the above-noted German patents DE-PS No. 24 27 921 or DE-PS No. 35 40 659, assigned to the assignee of the present application.